It all started in 1958, when Hugh Steinmetz played trumpet in the school band and got in contact with Christian Mouritzen, a 19-year-old blacksmith who played alto saxophone and would soon change his name into Franz Beckerlee. They were soon joined by young bass player Steffen Andersen. By January 1962 they entered the scene at the Vingaarden club in central Copenhagen where, together with John Tchicai, they had the groundbreaking experience of hearing Cecil Taylor, Sunny Murray, and Albert Ayler. The next step was to enter the scene in the more international Montmartre Jazzhouse. Monday night was "avantgarde night" and The Beckerlee Quartet (still in their late teens) accepted the offer to play for an hour and therefore got the chance to further develop their music. It was there that they came into contact with The New York Contemporary Five -- Don Cherry, Archie Shepp, John Tchicai, Don Moore, and J.C. Moses. Before The New York Contemporary Five left Scandinavia in November 1963, they collaborated with The Beckerlee Quartet for a broadcast on Danish Radio. The gifted drummer Sunny Murray, an inspiring force for the Beckerlee group, was hired in 1964 to play on Action, their first LP, issued the following year by the legendary Debut Records. It was at that time that they changed their name to The Contemporary Jazz Quartet. Action has come to be regarded by many as one of the most important early accomplishments in European free improvisation. It was at this time that members of The Contemporary Jazz Quartet were invited to perform with David Tudor and Michael von Biehl in Charlottenborg, a very important place for the avantgarde in music and visual arts. The group would eventually shift again in membership and become The Contemporary Jazz Quintet, featuring Bo Thrige Andersen, Franz Beckerlee, Hugh Steinmetz, Niels Harrit, and Steffen Andersen, and enter the studio in 1967 to record what would have been the follow up to Action, intended to be also issued by Debut. As a fascinating illumination of the moment, particularly because it predates Miles Davis' revolutionary innovation of electric jazz by roughly a year, new innovations in amplification during that moment that the band began to observe in rock music, provoked them to abandon that album and begin again, eventually producing the LP T.C.J.Q. in 1969, which featured two electrified saxophones, as well as amplified trumpet and double-bass, relinquishing their previous recordings, unreleased, to the vaults. It is those incredible, lost 1967 recordings made by The Contemporary Jazz Quintet, unearthed for the first time in nearly 60 years, that comprise Action A B C E, FormalIbera's new LP dedicated to the group. Includes an insert with liner notes by Mats Gustaffson and Anna-Lise Malmros.

229 x 152 x 27 mm. 498 pages. At the dawn of the '70s, in a country still reeling from the aftershocks of World War 2, an underground movement of rock musicians resolved to tear it all up and start again. Welcome to France, 1968. Music fans in the English-speaking world are well-versed in the Krautrock scene springing up across the border in Germany, but they are almost totally unaware of the French musical underground. There the radicalism of May '68 collided with the counterculture, post-psychedelic rock, and free jazz to produce some of the most distinctive and vital music made anywhere in the '70s. Synths, Sax & Situationists tells the story of more famous bands like Magma, Etron Fou Leloublan, and Gong alongside almost-forgotten groups like Cheval Fou, Fille Qui Mousse, and Barricade. Forewords from Jean-Jacques Birgé and Steven Stapleton. Also, includes coverage on Lard Free, Red Noise, Maajun, Komintern, Dagon, Bananamoon, Ame Son, Crium Delirium, Clearlight (and Delired Cameleon Family), Moving Gelatine Plates, Contrepoint, Camizole, Jac Berrocal, Birgé Gorgé Shiroc, Philippe Besombes, Heldon, and Ilitch.

Limited-edition, one per customer. "Water Damage don't play songs. They invoke states. It's not rock and roll, it's ritual repetition therapy, like if Glenn Branca got stuck in a feedback loop with La Monte Young and they both forgot what year it was -- Texas 2025 or Berlin 1972 or maybe just eternity's parking lot. This isn't music for driving -- unless you're driving into the sun with your eyes rolled back and the gas pedal held down with a cinderblock of intent. Captured in Utrecht, Netherlands at the almighty Le Guess Who? Festival, where churches tremble and strobes reflect off every holy surface, Live at Le Guess Who? is a document of sustained sonic immolation. Eight members. Two drummers. Multiple stringed instruments. One saxophone. All hammering away at 'Reel 25,' captured live here shortly after the recorded version which would end up becoming the lead track on their most recent double LP Instruments. A single idea drilling into the molten center of your skull with the grace of a jackhammer ballet. It's not a show. It's a slow-motion landslide with amps. And for this particular descent into the drone abyss, Water Damage were joined by two very special fellow travelers and honorary members: Ajay Saggar (Bhajan Bhoy, University Challenged) adding six-string sorcery and smolder, and Patrick Shiroishi, the free-reed exorcist himself who is a guest on Instruments and just happened to be at Le Guess Who? as well, channeling ghosts through saxophones like he's trying to crack the sky. As if Water Damage weren't already enough of a wall, these two brought the ceiling and the floor. Water Damage, the Austin psych-drone monolith with the un-Googleable name and the wall-of-amplifiers ethos, doesn't just flirt with chaos -- they drag it behind the van and mic up the gravel. Their motto? 'Maximal Repetition Minimal Deviation.' Which sounds like the world's most menacing yoga class or a commandment from some amp-fried cult, and maybe it is. This ain't no avant-noise chin-stroke either. It's hot and dense and loud like a steel mill hallucination, and if you find yourself dissociating mid-set, that just means it's working. This is music that doesn't 'build' -- it grinds. It gnaws. And then it blooms. If you're lucky, it leaves you somewhere softer. Le Guess Who? handed them the altar. Water Damage, Saggar, and Shiroishi set it on fire."

Double LP version. Transparent vinyl. New York-based artist James K returns with Friend. This album is full of electric pop anthems that blends ear-worming melodies with peak-time breaks, buzzing powerpunk guitars and a classic rave pulse, with K's signature enchanting vocals playfully spitting emotion. It's a hallucinatory pleasure, tearing through your body and mind. "Play" rushes with a rebellion of friends -- an electro fever daydream waking up everywhere you go. Hot off extensive tours worldwide, playing the likes of Pitchfork Festival, Dekmantel, iii Points, and Mutek, following in the footsteps of her last two critically acclaimed singles Friend comes on AD 93. RIYL: Cocteau Twins, Yves Tumor, Prodigy, Oklou, Grimes.

Paul and Limpe Fuchs at the peak of their creativity and power, tense and radically pursuing freedom with every texture, tone and beat. This LP issued in an edition of 300 copies finds Anima-Sound at the crossroad between sound art/sculpture, radical free jazz and the German sonic avant-garde. Anima-Sound has been defined as "finding authentic sound combinations together" -- and you can hardly describe it tighter. The music of Paul and Limpe lives on such dialectical tensions in many ways, as these 1987 recordings in the municipal gallery in Rosenheim demonstrate. Tension in the musical dialogue between the two, tension between traditional music and the spontaneous sound formation that arises from the moment, tension between conventional instruments and Paul Fuchs' "sound sculptures," tension between the sound of instruments and voice, between metals and woods, between strings and membranes. In order to create as much freedom as possible, Paul and Limpe developed most of the instruments themselves. Sound sculptures like the "pendulum strings," heavy metal rods that hang from piano wires under resonating drums. When struck, bowed or plucked, bell effects, flooding or rough rubbing surfaces of sound are created. Sometimes the vibrations and beats become more concentrated, as if there was a constant cloud of sound over the room. Or the "fox horns," boldly looped wind instruments that again resemble the shape of prehistoric animal horns, or the "tube drums" and other idiosyncratic percussion instruments, such as the circular saw blade used as a cymbal or a simple, flexible bronze plate with a sliding tone scale when brought to swinging with the drumsticks from Limpe, held by Paul. As Limpe recalls: "In the Anima duo with Paul Fuchs beside the drum set I used iron tools and metal sheets from the workshop. Instead of the hi hat cymbals I had a metal ring with five strings and plucked them by foot with a plectrum. Paul had built the Fuchsharp with two pickups and glided up and down the scale." Paul and Limpe Füchs in Baummusik managed to maintain the creative tension, a deeply resonant space and sound, throughout the whole performance: a rise and fall of dynamics and rhythmic intensity, the change of the respective "leading sonority," the choice of timbres were so obvious, as if this music were the reflex of organic life, like breathing. And both the moments of complete silence as well as the outbursts of uncontrolled chaos fit logically into the flow of the music.

This third Gil J Wolman record released by Alga Marghen, bringing together mégapneumes from the '60s, sheds new light into the poetic revolution of the time, or a kind of organic infra-language. It's the physical poetry of a serial killer that is recorded in the two "Mégapneumesm" as well as in the extract from the (last?) "Mégapneumes" (excerpt), the tape that was found still wound on Wolman's tape recorder after his death. "Les Callas," an astonishing piece possibly based on several super-imposed recordings of Wolman's voice at Radio Télévision Française (ca 1961), features a Lettrist choir recycling Rimbaudian vowels, while high-pitched screams emerge, culminating in a polyphony worthy of some tribe resistant to domestication. "Un coup pour rien", "Un coup pour deux" and "Tu vas la taire ta gueule", recorded at Radio Canada in 1965, are presented here for the first time on record, completing the program of this historical and radical anthology. In a conversation with Ilse Garnier, she told Frederic Aquaviva (the curator of this edition for Alga Marghen) that Henri Chopin had precipitated the end of his attempts at sound poetry with this definitive formula: "Le souffle, c'est moi!". On the other hand, in Gil J Wolman's record library appears this eloquent dedication by Chopin on his record Audiopoems, released by the English label Tangent in 1971: "For Gil J Wolman, evident in 1 (because the first), evident in 1971, evident in 2071, evident in 3071, in short to the sup-herbal Gil." But unlike Isidore Isou, Wolman was not the sort of person to send out a leaflet in order to make clear what he had achieved with this new poetry, and besides, he himself had consigned Isou to the old world, with the new beginning represented by his mégapneumes, which in fact date from 1950, when he first joined the Lettrist movement. He was undoubtedly one of the first poets to use the resources of the tape recorder and its varispeed, for example in L'Anticoncept, in 1951, also used a decade later by Brion Gysin with "I Am that I Am" and Henri Chopin. Also, in 1973, François Dufrêne produced a manuscript on a torn silkscreen poster where one can read "Gil J Wolman is one of the most important phonetic poets." Wolman is an essential innovator and artist: a poet, writer, visual artist, film-maker and video-maker who, like Gherasim Luca, did not need to give numerous public recitals or recordings to make his mark. To be Duchamp or Arman: Wolman chose his side!

The roots of African music are always open to new possibilities. This is revealed in the music of this unprecedented quartet. Alongside the Malian singer Rokia Traore', Mamah Diabate, Malian riot and djeli ngoni player, has been playing for several years with Stefano Pilia (Afterhours, Massimo Volume). Now, their path intertwines with the artistic and human partnership between Jabel Kanuteh, Gambian griot and kora virtuoso, and percussionist Marco Zanotti (Classical Afrobeat Orchestra, Cucoma Combo). The union of these two pairs develops unusual geographies and architectures, where dual African and Italian identities merge into one universal sensibility. The predominant Malian and Gambian modes chase each other, but all is fused into a broader rhythm factory or embellished by more abstract and liquid experimental digressions. The curiosity and pliability of the individual musicians search for a language that is both current and contemporary, always poised between ancient and modern, landscape and narrative, with jazz, rock and folk influences.

The Vestige is the first fruit of a new intergenerational collaboration between Giuseppe Ielasi, a quietly prolific key contributor to the European experimental music scene for over twenty years, and Jack Sheen, a young composer-conductor-sound artist from Manchester whose recent projects have seen him moving seamlessly from enigmatic chamber music composition and installations to conducting the London Symphony Orchestra. Their materials and working methods differ significantly, with Ielasi having focused for many years on electro-acoustic techniques alongside his ongoing commitment to the guitar, and Sheen primarily composing for traditional instruments. More important, though, is what they share: a fascination with what Sheen calls "mysterious, liminal musical material," using irregular repetition and cyclical forms to create structures at once alive with activity and almost static, as well as a rigorous exploration of spatial diffusion and the interaction of sound event and environment. Working individually with a library of acoustic instrument sounds from Sheen's recent projects and Ielasi's guitar, the pair eventually met for several days at Ielasi's home studio in Monza, sculpting the fourteen pieces that make up The Vestige. Like Ielasi and Sheen's solo works, the record shows an exquisite attention to details of sequencing and pacing, the sound palette and compositional approach consistent throughout while each piece asserts its own identity. Ielasi and Sheen sketch dimensions of the ambiguous space, where distinctions between pitch and noise, repetition and irregularity, electronic and acoustic remain pointedly unclear. The Vestige shows an unusual degree of attention to frequency range as a compositional tool, something it shares with the hyper-subtle variations of Ielasi's electroacoustic works and the deliberately "unbalanced" midrange-heavy ensemble of Sheen's Sub. Here, movement between episodes is as much about adding or removing a frequency band as it is about changes in density, harmonic content, or instrumental texture. Tracks are marked by the sudden appearance of subbass or exaggeration of high frequencies in otherwise similar material, contributing to the sense that these fourteen pieces are like different views on a scene that listeners can never quite see clearly. While calling up a range of past music, from the early works of Rolf Julius to Simha Arom's recordings of layered polyrhythms embedded in the background sounds of central African villages to the temporal distortions and layered hiss of DJ Screw, the alluring and disconcerting world of The Vestige is entirely its own.

LP version. Al Bilali Soudan sparked by passion, and experience generate an improvisational tour de force melding tradition, rhythm and scale. From Tombouctou, Mali, these bravura players have performed together for generations. Pairing blazing strings with insistent percussion, Al Bilali Soudan's cultural roots represent the source of trance desert blues. Al Bilali Soudan delivers Takamba in its rawest form -- the original desert sound. These masters command the tehardent, a three-stringed lute buzzing with hypnotic power, propelled by deep calabash rhythms. Their music is tradition unleashed: unrefined, immediate, and pulsing with the spirit of Saharan gatherings. Recorded during informal rehearsals, this session captures Al Bilali Soudan's essence. Two extended tracks stretch beyond 13 minutes, locking into relentless trance inducing grooves. Abellow Yattara leads with tehardent work that's both virtuosic and deeply rooted, proving why he's revered as a keeper of Mali's musical legacy. This is desert music at its most primal. No studio effects, no concessions -- just real, raw resonance of strings, skin and voice. For those who think they know African blues, here's the deeper truth.

Two decades ago, an all-star assembly of Chicago improvisers started a new band, drawing its name from an 1841 book by Charles Mackay: Extraordinary Popular Delusions. With weekly gigs at a spot in Chicago called Hotti Biscotti, Jim Baker, Mars Williams, Brian Sandstrom, and Steve Hunt honed their sound, which could be ferocious or nerdy or diffuse, as they moment required. After a couple years, the quartet moved to a regular Monday session at Beat Kitchen, where they were resident band for more than fifteen years. Williams was from time to time called away on tour, frequently enough that the band invited another horn player, the venerable Edward Wilkerson Jr., to substitute. This inevitably led to quintet convenings with both Williams and Wilkerson, the likes of which are now legend. Without question, although they have only released two previous records, EPD is one of the signal ensembles of Chicago creative music. Mars Williams (1955-2023) had been diagnosed with late-stage cancer when EPD booked a concert at Elastic Arts Foundation at the end of August, 2023. Williams, who lived less than three months more, was on the bill. Nobody expected him to play the way he did. More than an honorary appearance, this was Mars at the top of his game, playing, as it were, for his life. With Sandstrom switching between bass, trumpet, and electric guitar, Wilkerson doubling on saxophone and clarinet as well as oud and didgeridoo, Baker on ARP synthesizer and piano as well as violin, and Hunt on all sorts of percussion, Williams' table of toys and his blazing soprano, alto, and tenor saxophones were in perfect company -- a band that could freely improvise open structures and instantly compose unforeseen suites, while maintaining a level of intensity and intrigue on par with the saxophonist's mastery. Long term relationships extending outside this group, including those with NRG Ensemble, Mars Williams' Ayler Xmas projects, as well as a variety of ad hoc and shorter-lived amalgamations, made this one of the most fertile environments for these players, and this final quintet bore the marks of a classic concert. Which it was. Fortunately, Dave Zuchowski was there to brilliantly document it in all its two-set glory. Corbett vs. Dempsey is pleased to present the entire concert on two CDs, as the fourth installment of CvsD's Mars Archive series, with a cover painting by Timothy Howe.

"Eiko Ishibashi and Jim O'Rourke toured Europe for two weeks in 2023, a wonderful passage through France, Switzerland, Italy and Ireland; Pareidolia, the duo's fifth collaborative release, is a remix made up of resonances from those shows. The movement of sound in each performance and the relationships of sound between them; a dynamic medley of color and shape to pulse through earbuds, speaker cones and the air immediately surrounding you. Improvisation is the preferred collaborative mode for Eiko and Jim. They both prepare separately, without discussing anything beforehand. The dialogue in the moment determines the performance; anything that takes place is a possible point of departure, allowing for a unique experience each time they play. These 2023 shows marked the first time Jim and Eiko had played together outside Japan. Perhaps the flow of parts unpacked from their respective computers was inspired by the experiences of the tour: the nature of the assembled audience, the quality of the meal on the day at hand. Additionally, Eiko played flute and they both played a bit of harmonica intermittently throughout the performances. These live acoustic signals were routed back to the hard drives, to provide further material to play with -- and as they traveled, recordings of the previous nights' shows were among the materials for the next performance. With all this to play with, there was much fun to be had every night. Pareidolia's final mix is one further rearrangement of the elements -- comping -- say, a bit of Jim from Paris against Eiko in Dublin for a minute, before bringing them both back into the same room for a spell before another set of interactions comes into play. The choices and edits represented here make yet another unique dialogue, as well as a kind of "best" version of what they were doing on the tour. The sense of inevitability in the parts as they flow together might suggest structure; happily, this occurs without Eiko and Jim really committing to anything of the sort. Their available sound sources could present as a hot-wired noise onslaught, with all faders up full. Endless possible interpretations to be had on either side of the experience! This is one of several ways that the LP title and sequence of song titles come into play. Listeners hearing something more should have a good look in the mirror and perhaps consider the old saying: 'Just because you're paranoid doesn't mean they aren't out to get you.' It could only help."

"The third time's the charm! Or perhaps -- the third time's another charming excursion into the seemingly infinite universe of rhythm spontaneously created whenever guitarist Oren Ambarchi, bassist Johan Berthling, and percussionist Andreas Werliin plug in together. However you choose to look at it, several years into their collaborative endeavor, and a little more than a year on from Ghosted II, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin are back with a new finding, constituting fresh developments of their sound -- if not their album-titling ambition (in other words, if you can't guess it's called Ghosted III, you're just not paying enough attention!). In actuality, the sound of this trio has been all about new developments since they first started playing together. That's something to be simply expected when dropping the tonearm on any of their records, which is a very nice thing. There's also something to be said for constancy, especially when it produces such stimulating variations of tone and mood within the trio format. So, all good -- since there wasn't anything broke, there was no need to fix it. Instead, just do it again. With that credo, Ambarchi, Berthling and Werliin returned to Stockholm's Studio Rymden to continue the incredible standard of capture that distinguished both Ghosted and Ghosted II. Although they took more studio time than ever before (three whole days!), Ghosted III's new development is an increased immediacy in their performances, something a little looser and wilder than their first two albums -- and something, no doubt, that's been developed by their encounters during the several dozen-plus gigs played since their debut. Thus, their ability to lock in and focus, hanging on to the smallest of details, is here enhanced by an expansive lightness of being. Such potentially polar skill sets could well make for uneven chemistry -- but in the hands of these three, a sparkling variety of new jams occurs. They seem to be available to try anything these days, at times playing with the exuberance of prog-rockers or new-wave popsters, alongside the eternal energies of their established styles: ambient neo-jazz, postkraut, minimal funk. In the end, their shared instinct shapes the varied emissions into structure reaching ever further into the ether -- giving Ghosted III a singular quality belonging only to the trio that is Oren Ambarchi, Johan Berthling and Andreas Werliin."

"Feeding Tube Records is excited to present the first North American release by this amazing Japanese sound artist. Yosuke Fujita goes by the name FUJI|||||||||||TA, perhaps so he won't be mistaken for the guitarist of the same name who plays with Better Days, or perhaps because he just likes to hear people try to figure out how to say, 'FUJI|||||||||||TA,' properly. Either way, FUJI|||||||||||TA is a wonderful avant-garde project that has been active for almost two decades. In its current iteration, performances involve spontaneous compositions on a mutant pipe organ which is operated by air pumps rather than keys. Using a variety of gestural means to create the long tones that are the basis of his work, FUJI|||||||||||TA's performances (such as this one at an old church in Brattleboro VT) have a choreographic element to match the sonics. As an element for this live session (the first he has released), the artist was also able to weave in sounds from Epsilon Spire's own 1906 3' manual Estey pipe organ. The sonic mix is both organic and ghostly. The process by which FUJI|||||||||||TA works has a deeply spiritual quality that blends seamlessly with instrumental sounds sometimes recalling Charlemagne Palestine at his most oceanic. When FUJI|||||||||||TA adds vocals, things get even better. Sometimes using a technique where he pushes himself to a place where he utters sounds that are beyond his actual range, at others singing long wordless passages with prayer-like qualities, the music is beyond easy description. There are three tracks on the LP, each with a slightly different instrumental approach, but all of a piece. The first has both FUJI|||||||||||TA's mutant organ as well as the church's. The second features the church organ and voice. The third is church organ and a Japanese free reed instrument called a shõ. Some parts have a single drone line, others commingle multiple sources for extra pleasure. But the entire album is something like waking up in the middle of a very strange and beautiful dream, not exactly certain where you are or even who you are, just drifting on clouds of serendipitous sounds. All we can say is, 'dream on.'" --Byron Coley, 2025

North of Copenhagen, in the suburb of Holte, there was a cinema called the Reprise Theatre, which promoted the arts in the area by holding art exhibitions and other events and, in the Autumn of 1967, opened the theatre for a series of jazz concerts with no restrictions on musical content or style. Many young musicians presented their music here, from bebop and blues to more experimental music. The musicians in Tordenskjolds Soldater were among the core of musicians who played there regularly. The group was formed in October 1969 by musicians who could be heard in many different jazz groups playing at Reprisen. The members of Tordenskjolds Soldater were the fine saxophonist Jesper Nehammer, later a member of the Danish Radio Jazz Group and orchestras led by trumpeter Palle Mikkelborg. Henrik Hove and Jon Finsen were regulars on the Reprise scene for a long time and played with Ole Matthiessen in many orchestras. In April 1970 the activities at Reprisen came to an end, but at the same time the Montmartre Jazzhouse changed its programming, relying more on local Danish jazz groups playing for longer periods. Tordenskjolds Soldater played at Montmartre every Monday from May to October 1970, and it was during this period that these recordings were made, the same time of heightened activity when the band recorded its lone commercial release, Peace, for the legendary imprint Spectator Records. Love, Tordenskjolds Soldater's first new LP in more than 50 years, includes previously unreleased recordings filled with deep grooves and driving rhythms like the previous Peace album. The LP starts with "Native Land," a joyous explosion built around the visionary piano playing of Ole Mathiessen and hypnotic cycles by Henrik Hove and Jon Finsen, with soulful lines by Jesper Nehammer on sax. "Memoires of Isadora Duncan" is the only track which was featured on Peace, but the alternate version presented here includes Ole Matthiessen winding through the intoxicating melodies of Nehammer on Fender Rhodes. From here on, every track was previously unpublished. Love, a truly striking statement that reminds you how much fun jazz can be, includes an insert with original photos as well as liner notes by Ole Matthiessen.

Restocked; USA tour happening now; LP version. "Violence Dimension is our seventh full length release. We have come quite a distance in time and space since we released Horseback in 2010. One thing that binds us all is violence, be that within a video game, or in a movie or on the daily news. Violence affects our daily life, perhaps more than love or kindness ever will. We are all bound by death, whether we like it or not. This release explores the hinterland between being scared to live and bring scared to die, and punches holes in the idea that we must live our life by one set of rules. We all live in the violence dimension, and there is no escape." --Conan. Also available in CD (HPS 341CD), red vinyl (HPS 341LTD-LP), and orange/green/yellow vinyl (HPS 341ULTRA-LP).

Kuniyuki Takahashi -- one of Japan's, if not the world's, most remarkable producers -- originally released his debut album We Are Together on CD in 2006. Nearly two decades later, the album is finally seeing a vinyl release to commemorate the 300th title from Mule Musiq.

"Kuni is a true artist -- an artist that I love and respect. His music displays true emotion and life and when I listen to his music I can feel his soul, but most importantly it's his own music. Kuni, thank you for giving our planet your music, spirit, and heart. Peace, love and respect." --Joaquin Joe Claussell

Losoul is back on Slices Of Life with two minimal house gems! Frankfurt-based DJ and producer legend Losoul is renowned for his unique sonic language and deep, captivating grooves. On his latest release for the Berlin imprint, the tracks take listeners on a journey back to the roots of minimal house. "Post Service Pop" on the A-side flows deep and funky, spreading pads like hot oil, topped with subtly modulated vocal snippets. "Modesty Bump" on the B-side dives into rawer territory with high-energy sounds and edgy sonic sparkles.

2025 repress. First-ever official reissue on vinyl since 1975. Ash Ra Tempel is the eponymous debut studio album by the Krautrock band Ash Ra Tempel. It features guitarist Manuel Göttsching with drummer Klaus Schulze and bassist Hartmut Enke. Engineered by Conny Plank, it was recorded in March and June 1971 on Ohr Records. This 50th Anniversary Album will be released in memoriam of all the musical contributors to this release and on Manuel Göttsching´s MG.ART label.

"On our album, the track 'Amboss' represents the first layer. Conventional instruments communicate familiar music which is in part expanded through electronic means. In the second track of the album -- 'Traummaschine' -- the actual basic sound approach is dissolved into an electronic Nirvana which no longer allows the concrete identification of actual instruments. Innocent, virgin listening, free from any and every association, can finally begin -- and the music can be absorbed and processed free from the limitations of categorization. That is the purpose of our music: To convey freedom without any predetermined criteria or traditions. Thank you for your attention." --Manuel Göttsching (Taken from the original A-R-T Bio 1970)

Available on 180gram Black Vinyl (MGART 611LP) and 140gram Limited Transparent Vinyl (MGART 611TV-LP). Sticker, 50th Anniversary RE-Edition, Re-Cut carefully overseen by Manuel Göttsching. 350 gram Quadro Fold Out Sleeve that exactly replicates complex/original OHR die-cut jacket, A2 Poster, 2x (German and English) A4 Inlay with Original Bio Sheet written by Manuel Göttsching (1970). Pressed at Optimal, Germany.

A note from Peter Knight: "Ŋurru Wäŋa traces notions of home, belonging, and displacement. In the two parts of the title track, Sunny Kim intones the words of Korean poet Yoon Dong Ju's poem, Another Home, in counterpoint to Daniel Wilfred's song, sung in the Wáglilak language. Ŋurru Wäŋa (pronounced Wooroo Wanga), translates as 'the scent of home', and as we travel we long for that fragrance, passing the bee, guku, making the bush honey while the crow circles calling overhead. This theme -- this search for a sense of belonging -- is at the heart of what drives Hand to Earth, a group of five people, who come together from different backgrounds, different birthplaces, and different musical approaches to share our songs, and by doing that to create something new. The six tracks on this album map our respective journeys into the now and express the connections that have developed within Hand to Earth over the years we have travelled and played together. We each have our own relationship to this place, its difficult history, its contended present, its clouded future. This music is perhaps a way of thinking through this, written in the scribble of electronics, in the sighs of the clarinet and trumpet, in the broad-brush strokes of the yidaki, and the snap of the bilma. The songs that sit at the heart of Ŋurru Wäŋa were recorded mid-tour on a day off in Melbourne. Daniel had a spontaneous urge to record songs from the song line of Djuwaḻpada who is an important figure in Wägilak dreaming. Djuwaḻpada walked through the land starting in Daniel's country, Nyilipidgi, in central Arnhem Land and ending at the coast at Lutenbuy singing the place and everything that lives there into existence. Daniel's song cycle traces the flight of the birds, the Mäḏawk and Wäk Wäk. It describes the seasons, and the Stringybark tree, Gaḏayka, that supplies the bark for painting, and the wood for the bilma (clapping sticks). With the exception of 'The Crow,' which was recorded in New York, these songs landed in single takes in one session recording just the voice, bilma, and yidaki with some synth drones and other materials. The rest of the sounds came later in separate iterative recording sessions, in which the settings for the songs were developed through spontaneous layering and rubbing back. This process reflected the approach we take to live performance but stretched across time, our voices calling to one another. Creating connections -- resonating, blurring, vibrating."

After years in aesthetic exile, Wolfgang Voigt returns as Wassermann -- for the first time on These Eyes. An elegant escalation, a technoid homage to The Palace in Gstaad -- alpine glamour meets minimalist rigor. Between champagne flute and fog machine, Voigt draws his unmistakable lines: precise, cool, hypnotic. High society meets high fidelity. Alpine views in 4/4 time. Vinyl comes with insert.

2025 restock. Originally released in 1979. Edited by Brad Osbourne at Bullwackie Studio. A collection of tunes recorded between 1976-78 and somewhat of a US issue of Delroy Wilson's True Believer In Love LP released on Carib Gems in the UK in 1978 and on Micron in Canada the following year. Brad's collection features just one number from the former and the complete B side from the ladder. On the back sleeve: "Delroy Wilson has a lot of very special things going for him, things that made him the 'big soulful vocal star' that he is and the most consistent vocalists today in Jamaica. Perhaps the foremost of these qualities is an elusive commodity called soul, which is feelings, emotions, expression. Well to me, Delroy doesn't just sing -- he feels the song from within. Some might say he is one of the finest of one of the best reggae singers, but I think a little different, because I know Delroy can sing anything and sing it well. Soul, funk, reggae, shot music anything he's got the power, the know-how, the soul to mash it up..." Personnel: Robert Shakespeare - bass; Carlton "Santa" Davis, Sly Dunbar - drums; Chinna, Tony Chin - guitar (lead); Bobby Ellis, Dirty Harry, Tommy McCook - horns; Burnard "Touter" Harvey, Ossie Hibbert - organ; Ansel Collins - piano. Producer: Bunny Lee.

"1999 ska heavy album from Toots & The Maytals. Wicked pacing and inspired playing and singing set this one as a high-water mark in the Maytals' discography."

2025 restock. Recoiled is a rambunctious alchemy of magikal Coil sensibilities and hi-tech home circa '90s mixing technique, all fused in the cave-like early studios of Danny Hyde/Peter Christopherson. These were the unrestrained PRE-BIG studio-mix-downs of four songs which long-time Coil admirer/collaborator Trent Reznor requested Coil to remix. Reznor sent over the original multi-tracks and DATs to Hyde/Christopherson, who independently mixed versions and then met to synch both creations, molding them into these master versions. Recoiled includes a fuller, more opulent version of the track "Closer," which eventually made it onto the opening credits of the movie SE7EN. These five lengthy compositions (just under 40 minutes) are pre-Ableton/laptop generation-type priest-song creations, with the use of baby alarms and numerous wires to create bespoke effects. These legendary tracks were always rumored to exist and, only the due diligence of a dedicated NIN forum who hunted them down, are released/unleashed for your listening pleasure. Four of the tracks were released on the download-only Uncoiled. A bonus, previously-unheard track from the same sessions closes the album. Jhonn Balance is also manifest on this gilded constellation. Beautifully remastered.

2025 restock. An expanded reissue of Sun Ra's Continuation, originally released in 1970. A special two CD reissue of the hyper-rare El Saturn Records album, recorded in 1963, early in the Arkestra's New York period, paired with a full disc of extra material. Loaded with John Gilmore, one of the greatest and rarest slabs of Sun Ra vinyl, on CD for the first time. Recorded on March 10, 1963 at the Choreographer's Workshop in New York City. Remastered from the original tapes by Michael D. Anderson; Reissue produced by John Corbett and Adam Abraham.

2025 restock; El Palmas Music and El Dragón Criollo once again leave their skin immersing themselves in the musical archives of the "Venezuelan Saudi". In addition to the search for that Holy Grail of "one's own identity" in the midst of the international explosion of musical trends, the need arises to express the consequences that the urban explosion and unbridled growth had on society. Color de Trópico Vol. 2 confronts you with a new expressive rebellion, that of the new heterogeneity, the diversity of the new social organization and the struggle for survival. New styles raise their voices, in the face of all this urban complexity we already know that traditional genres, far from reacting passively, returned to the charge of cumbia, joropo, merengue coexisting against rock and roll, but this rock and roll opened the doors and it evolved with them in the form of rock (just), pop, soul, jazz, highly sophisticated funk. But, as you can see in Color de Trópico Vol. 2, the influence of Caribbean modernity also stomped on with new rhythms such as ska, rocksteady, reggae, originating in Jamaica and represented in Venezuela by the group of brilliant good vibes such as Las Cuatro Monedas and its theme "Buena Suerte". Salsa also arrives, still grown only in New York, San Juan, and Cali but which now extends to Caracas and of which the tasty "María La Bella" by Nelson y sus Estrellas stands out. The mixture is the reality of the social network of the city, chaotic, dynamic, incessant, recipient of massive migrations from all parts of the country, mainly from rural areas to the capital, but also from Colombia, the Caribbean, Europe, everything to a speed faster than it could have the ability to be assimilated. Groups like the psychedelics of Grupo Almendra add Latin percussion to their rock band flirting with trends such as disco music or even samba in "Tutti Frutti" and the powerful brass section of the reference jazz band in Venezuela, such as La Retreta Mayor, with its funky jazz "Líquido Elemento", a spectacular vision of a Caracas that never sleeps between textures of saxophones and trumpets in its wide avenues. With Color de Trópico Vol. 2, El Palmas and El Dragón Criollo show the versatility that musical groups usually have in Venezuela, in which the sophistication and vision that they already had at this very important moment continues to surprise. Also features Los Kings, Mario Y Sus Diamantes, Orquesta La Playa, and Anselmo Y Su Conjunto Pajueliao.

2025 restock. One of the rarest psychedelic garage albums ever, the Kaleidoscope album was recorded in the Dominican Republic by this Boricuan/Dominican band but released only in Mexico in 1969 as a tiny pressing, housed in a fantastic psychedelic sleeve designed by Bodo Molitor. Acid fuzz guitars, organ, demented vocals. Impossible to find in its original form, here's a welcomed reissue. Remastered sound. Original artwork in hard cardboard sleeve. Includes insert with detailed liner notes by Enrique Rivas and rare photos.

"Recorded in Italy in 1985, this is a valuable record of a unique trio -- saxophonist Larry Stabbins, pianist Keith Tippett, and drummer Louis Moholo-Moholo -- playing at the very top of their game. Larry Stabbins, after years of playing with many of the greatest improvising musicians of the '60s and '70s (John Stevens, Chris McGregor, Keith Tippett, Mike Westbrook, Tony Oxley etc) had recently exploded onto the pop world with the bands Weekend and Working Week and was quite famous in Italy. Not to be outdone, Louis Moholo-Moholo turned up to this gig in full 'warpaint' and all three play like the clappers. Both Louis and Keith are in their prime here, and the level of playing by all three is off the scale."

2025 restock; LP version. Pharaway Sounds presents a reissue of Barış Manco's second proper studio album, Nick The Chopper, originally released in 1976. Recorded in Belgium with help from session musicians related to Placebo, Janko Nilovic, and Mad Unity, among others, Nick The Chopper features lyrics in English, huge orchestral sections, and re-arrangements of many of the melodies from his 1975 masterpiece 2023 (GUESS 038CD/106LP). Barış spent his whole life trying to communicate to the wider world outside Turkey. This was his last attempt at doing so with an album before turning to a travel television show to visit faraway places and talk to the young and old, one on one. Every production trick of the glorious 1970s was deployed to push Barış Manco up the European charts, and now Pharaway Sounds pushes him right into your brain instead. Presented with newly designed artwork, remastered sound and an insert with photos and liner notes.

2025 restock. The second release on Sealed Records is Can't Cheat Karma, a 13-track round-up of the first five singles by Zounds. Their debut single from 1980, Can't Cheat Karma was released on Crass Records and 39 years later still stands as one of the finest singles both politically and musically. For the next three singles, Zounds worked with Rough Trade Records, who also released their debut album The Curse of Zounds (1981). 1981's Demystification was a tense and stark masterpiece; it was followed by the haunting Mikey Dread-produced Dancing and then the more straight-up pop of More Trouble Coming Everyday (both 1982). The final single here is La Vache Qui Rit, released on Belgian label Not So Brave in 1983. It was originally supposed to be a split single with The Mob but ended up being two scratchy studio tracks and two rough and raw live tracks recorded in Holland in 1982. Every home should have these essential Zounds recordings.

2025 restock. Victory present a reissue of Pacific, originally released in 1978. Reuniting the best session musicians Japan had to offer to make an album that would evoke the atmospheres of the South Pacific islands, the kind of places Japanese people spend their vacations. Pacific is a treat to the ears; its theme of the southern Pacific ocean and its warm cerulean waters relax its listeners with a fusion of city pop, soft jazz, and that good old 1970s funk while remaining surprisingly fully instrumental throughout all contributions from artists Haruomi Hosono, Shigeru Suzuki, and Tatsuro Yamashita. A true cult LP and an inspiration for a lot of so called "vaporware" music. LP includes insert.

2025 restock. Although Warhol, who was listed as producer on the album, allegedly gave the Velvets free reign over their sound, it was on his insistence that Nico performed on this album. However, this does not detract from the fact that when this album was made the Red Sea parted, and the Velvet Underground crossed into the Promised Land. Deluxe gatefold jacket with peeling banana and "Chelsea Girls" bonus track on B5

Norman Connors' Mr. C is a masterclass in sophisticated modern funk and boogie-infused soul that was way ahead of its time. Originally released in 1981, the album finds the renowned jazz drummer/producer at a creative crossroads, boldly diving deep into street-level boogie-funk without losing his soulful, jazzy touch. What once might have puzzled jazz purists now delights soul/funk aficionados; it has quietly become a cult favorite and now, nearly 45 years later, Mr. C sounds fresher than ever. Brimming with infectious heavy funk, lush arrangements and soul-stirring performances, it's an album that flirts with perfection, ensuring its enduring significance in the boogie/jazz-funk-soul canon. From its opening moments, Mr. C makes one thing clear: this is Norman Connors at his funkiest. The majority of the album is a straight-up party: think dancefloor-ready beats complemented by punchy horn riffs and slick early-'80s boogie vibes. There's heavy use of synths and drum-machines, demonstrating Connors' gleeful embrace of contemporary funk trends. Each track shines in uniquely thrilling fashion, showcasing Connors' versatility and happy knack for blending genres whilst crafting unforgettable melodies. Lush string accents and horn stabs weave through funky basslines, while the vocals (handled by a young Beau Williams) soar with gospel-tinged emotion. Over four decades later, it endures as a masterpiece. The fusion of Caribbean rhythm elements into an R&B context demonstrates Connors' willingness to experiment with global sounds while keeping things soulful and danceable. Bringing a real quiet storm swagger, "Sing a Love Song" slows the tempo ever so slightly into a sexy, swaying jazz-funk gem, featuring a young Glenn Jones on lead vocals. The arrangement is elegant, built on warm keys and an undeniable groove. The celestial "Love's In Your Corner" is all about soulful uplift. Featuring the legendary Jean Carn's powerhouse vocals soaring over a brass-kissed driving funk, it's an R&B burner. On release, Mr. C flew under the radar but time has been exceptionally kind to this record. DJs, collectors and soul connoisseurs alike have since rediscovered its magic. As ever, this crucial reissue has been lovingly remastered by Simon Francis, cut by engineer of the year Cicely Balston at Abbey Road Studios and pressed to perfection by Record Industry in Holland. Norman Connors was something truly extra. He was a visionary. And Mr. C is proof.

Originally released by Jah Thomas's Midnight Rock label from Jamaica, in 1982; now repressed by Clocktower. Ranking Toyan was already a seasoned veteran of Kingston's soundclash scene, having apprenticed with a number of smaller outfits before becoming earning a slot with Henry "Junjo" Lawes's Volcano Sound and winning widespread acclaim for his effortless, patois-laden delivery and his gruff putdowns of rival DJs. Though Toyan had already cut a number of outstanding sides for producer Don Mais, his collaborations with Lawes are undoubtedly his definitive recordings. Ghetto Man Skank stands as the very best of these. It boasts a set of simple, punishingly hard rhythms from the ace studio band The Roots Radics, which Toyan dominates with ease. His ability to spill forth unending streams of wordplay, streetcorner boasts, and infectious slogans is truly remarkable, enlivening every song on this set. Though Toyan didn't receive the same acclaim as fellow Volcano Sound DJs like Yellowman and Eek-A-Mouse, his outstanding performances on Ghetto Man Skank prove he was their equal in every respect.

Get ready for the rawest, dirtiest rock NYC has to offer! Taxidermy Girls, a band featuring legendary talents from Jon Spencer Blues Explosion, Television, Mercury Rev, Speedball Baby, and Five Dollar Priest, is back with a new LP that will blow you away. Rte 209 Blues delivers gritty, powerful sound straight from the streets of New York City -- pure, unfiltered, and full of that authentic underground energy. Once known as Taxi Girls, this band has evolved but still carries that rebellious attitude and raw edge that make them stand out. From gritty riffs to catchy melodies, each track is a trip through NYC's underground scene, where dirty, honest rock reigns supreme. Don't miss out on this release -- a record that proves the spirit of NYC's rock scene is alive and kicking stronger than ever.

LP version. "After a storied first year as a band releasing and touring behind their critically acclaimed debut album Today, Galaxie 500 closed out 1988 with a quintessential performance at New York City's famed CBGB with every bit of their signature intimacy and autumnal bombast on display. The unusual bill which also included Sonic Youth, B.A.L.L. and Unsane was a benefit show for the zine shop See Hear. Captured here in a raw but inspired board mix by Kramer and restored and mastered from the analog source by Alan Douches at West West Side Music, CBGB 12.13.88 is a live snapshot of a Galaxie fully formed, punctuating the end of their first chapter while poised to step into their next with On Fire the following year."